this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tear off the turban, ¹  take off the crown! Things must change! ²  Exalt the lowly, bring down the proud! ³ 

With his horses’ hoofs he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground.

Men of Persia, Lud, ¹  and Put were in your army, men of war. They hung shield and helmet on you; they gave you your splendor.

Your rowers have brought you into surging waters. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.

I placed you there with an anointed ¹  guardian ²  cherub; ³  you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked about amidst fiery stones.

Consider Assyria, ¹  a cedar in Lebanon, ²  with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds.

All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade all the great ¹  nations lived.

Their ¹  graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. ²  Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

“Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the pit.

I saw ¹  the glory of the God of Israel ²  coming from the east; ³  the sound was like that of rushing water; ⁴  and the earth radiated ⁵  his glory.

It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. ¹ 

Beat your plowshares ¹  into swords, and your pruning hooks ²  into spears! ³  Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ ⁴ 

So I will set fire to Rabbah’s ¹  city wall; ²  fire ³  will consume her fortresses. War cries will be heard on the day of battle; ⁴  a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. ⁵ 

You threw me ¹  into the deep waters, ²  into the middle ³  of the sea; ⁴  the ocean current ⁵  engulfed ⁶  me; all the mighty waves ⁷  you sent ⁸  swept ⁹  over me.

The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed ¹  and strangled prey to provide food ²  for his lionesses; he filled ³  his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

When the mountains see you, they shake. The torrential downpour sweeps through. ¹  The great deep ²  shouts out; it lifts its hands high. ³ 

Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord who rules over all and to ask his favor.

Listen to the howling of shepherds, because their magnificence has been destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated.

The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!” ¹ 

I tell you the truth, ¹  it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah ²  on the day of judgment than for that town!